'TESTING the limits of busy' is how artistic director Josie Rourke described the past few weeks.

Not only was the Old Shepherd's Bush Library being transformed into the new Bush Theatre but 130 actors, 66 writers and 23 directors were frantically rehearsing for their ambitious opening show Sixty Six books.

It will be a 24-hour show which will see playwrights, poets, novelists and songwriters penning their own interpretations of the 66 books of the King James Bible between today and October 29.

Artists set to perform in the show include Catherine Tate, Juliet Stevenson, Arthur Darvill and Rafe Spall while writers include the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Tim Rice and Billy Bragg.

Ms Rourke said: “When we conceived the project and began the commissioning cycle, we knew our lease would run out in 2011 but we just didn't know where we would be.

“It felt important that we had a big body of work that we could put on somewhere even if that was in a tent in Shepherd's Bush Green. To have something really epic and huge to that would help keep the company alive in the borough.

“It is very joyful to think it has arrived in our new home and it feels very right. Also, there are 130 actors, 66 writers and 23 directors and a huge team behind the scenes so it is a wonderful way of quickly introducing a lot of artists to our new space.”

The theatre has been housed above O'Neills pub since it opened in 1972 will see its capacity increased, a larger rehearsal space and a community cafe and bar.

Ms Rourke, who took over as artistic director in 2007, will leave to take over Covent Garden theatre Donmar Warehouse in the new year.

As we sit in what will be the community cafe, she emotionally explains how it feels to see her 'mission' of securing a future for the Bush become a reality.

“I feel slightly giddy,” she said. “When you undertake something as ambitious it is very hard to have a vision of what it will be but it has been exciting coming in every day and seeing it transform at such a rate.

“It was very much my mission to make sure the theatre turns 40 in a great new home in Shepherd's Bush and at the centre of the community and it feels wonderful to have got there.

“But it also feels like the perfect time to go. There are so many beginnings happening and it feels like I can make a nice quiet departure.”

People have been invited to help raise cash by buying and naming a seat in the new Bush Theatre. “I bought the first one,” said Ms Rourke. “So I will always be here.”